


Silver

by RuthlesslyEfficient



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Aging, F/M, Fluff, Getting Older, Pete's World, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 13:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15864645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuthlesslyEfficient/pseuds/RuthlesslyEfficient
Summary: The duplicate Doctor finds he does't mind the evidence that time has passed. Just a bit of fluff.





	Silver

I entered the flat exhausted; the kind of exhausted you get when nothing about the day has gone right. The kind of exhausted you get when it's been one uphill battle after another and you haven't even had your little piece of sunshine to make the day worthwhile. I shrugged off my trench coat and hung it on the peg. It slipped off and fell to the ground. I sighed. I stared at it a moment, then bent down, picked it up and hung it again. This time it stayed. I tugged at my tie as I deadbolted and chained the door behind me, struggling with the knot a few moments before it finally came loose. 

Normally I'd stop in the kitchen for a bite before going to bed, but I just wanted the day to be over, so I slogged toward the bedroom, unbuttoning my shirt as I went. I left the bedroom door open when I entered so I could navigate by the hall light rather than flipping on the overhead. On the bed, Rose's body was a lump under the covers and her hair, long these days, was all over my pillow. Finally, I managed a little grin. I sat on the chair next to the wardrobe to pull off my shoes. I left my clothes hanging over the chair, tugging a fresh pair of boxers and a vest from the dresser to sleep in. I moved to the en suite to brush my teeth. I scrubbed away a bit -- probably not as long as I should have, but it was late -- and spit and rinsed and spit. I lifted my head and saw myself in the mirror. 

And there it was. At my temple, two strands of hair gone grey. Certainly not something anyone else would notice, but me, I noticed everything. I took the moment to scrutinize myself a little more closely, squinting a little at this and that. A few more lines around my eyes, my mouth. The effects of six years as, well, myself: part human. One life to live.

It's not as though I hadn't known it was happening. I was still part Time Lord. I could feel time moving around me, inside me. I could sense it changing me. Still. A bit of another thing to look and see it in the mirror; to really think about my body aging. To think about the face that someday I was going stop being. Dust to dust. Well, a spare hand and regeneration energy to dust. 

I heard a shuffle from the bedroom and looked out into the shadows as Rose turned over from her stomach to her side. It put her eyes in line with the light spilling from the bathroom. Her nose crinkled with discomfort, but her eyes peeked open. 

"Doctor?" she asked, her voice rough with sleep. 

Her face was beginning to show the marks of time, too, laugh lines at her mouth and frown lines at her brow. Her hair remained blonde, though. Well, that was as it should be.

I saw those frown lines crease again as she noticed me looking at her, and it made me smile. Really smile. She smiled back, her eyes softening, just like she always did. 

I flipped off the bathroom light and made my way over to her, bending over my side of the bed with my hands and one knee braced on the mattress to kiss her. 

"Rose Tyler," I informed her softly, "I'm gonna love you till the day I die."

And lord, wasn't there something beautiful about that.


End file.
